Forced Training (7)
Forced Training (7)
They said we'd start on Thursday, but they didn't actually put us to work the moment we arrived.
We had the whole day yesterday to take our time looking around the place where we'd be staying. After lunch, we wandered near the station for a few dozen minutes, then assembled again and moved to Winterfield Castle with Jennifer, where we were shown around and introduced to various places. Getting to know the residents' faces first would make it easier to get help later, whatever happened.
Fifteen noble students had gathered and were being guided by a teacher who was also a noble, so maybe that was why none of the locals approached us the whole time we were walking around. Then again, it wasn't only the teacher leading at the front—every single student behind her was wearing a coat too.
The inner uniform still had some school-uniform-like elements that made it feel a little lighter, but the coat alone was practically indistinguishable from an officer's greatcoat. To the residents, who lacked detailed knowledge about the military, it must have looked like nothing more than a swarm of officers moving in a pack.
Alice, Charlotte, and I went back to our room in the afternoon and rested thoroughly until the next day, but the others apparently kept themselves busy roaming around in their own ways. Even Mia Crowfield was among those who went out.
"...... Ugh, it really is cold coming out at dawn."
Once we stepped outside, Alice shivered and muttered.
It was already May, yet it was still this cold. The north really was the north. Did I feel this chill because the developers had drawn the continent with real precision, or had they simply reproduced the fantasy image that the north was cold?
Well, the reason didn't matter.
The weather was so cold that even I had ended up wearing the coat properly instead of draping it over my shoulders like a cloak.
For the record, I had already put on thick black stockings on my legs much earlier. Even without Jennifer telling me, the moment I stepped off the train and felt that ominous chill, I'd decided that style and everything else could wait—surviving came first.
And maybe my behavior had looked genuinely desperate in my friends' eyes, because all of them silently bought cold-weather gear right alongside me.
That was probably why we were able to come outside at this hour like this.
"Still, the commission office is open. Look."
Claire pointed at the commission office situated right near the Winterfield main castle and spoke.
The lights in the surrounding shops and restaurants were all off. The gas streetlamps were lit, but they couldn't entirely dispel the desolate atmosphere of the main thoroughfare. At least we were inside Winterfield Castle's walls, so it felt a little less bleak. Near the station, the forest catching at the edge of my vision would probably have looked terrifyingly gloomy.
The Empire's security system was surprisingly modern: military and police were separated. Military matters were handled by the Imperial Army, and law enforcement by the Imperial Police.
The Imperial Police's jurisdiction, however, was almost entirely limited to the Emperor's direct domains. Centralization had been carried out and private armies had been abolished, but the lords still wanted a minimum of autonomy. Therefore, domains that could support a police force with their own tax revenue maintained their own constabularies.
They couldn't 'militarize' them while watching the Emperor's mood, but they kept just enough troops to defend themselves to some degree should the Emperor ever attack.
As for armies, ordinary private troops had been abolished, but in places where security was unstable due to external factors, such as the territories of margraves who had to defend against foreign enemies or the Duchy of Winterfield, private soldiers could exceptionally be maintained as auxiliary forces of the Imperial Army. That said, being military forces, ultimate command authority rested with the Emperor.
If the Emperor judged an army to fall outside that 'exception' and ordered its dissolution, they had to comply. Otherwise the Imperial Army would sweep in and wipe them out.
Well, I wasn't sure whether they could even do that to the Duchy of Winterfield. The Imperial Army's loyalty to Winterfield as the regional commander was immense around here.
In any case, because of this Imperial 'stranglehold,' prominent local lords agonized over how to create something resembling a private army. The result was these 'domain-operated commission offices.'
To put it bluntly, they were mercenary bands directly hired by the domain.
These commission offices had been established decades ago under the stated purpose of dealing with the beasts on the highways, maintaining security in the undeveloped interior of the domain, or resolving petitions from domain residents that required a degree of armed force.
And to keep even those offices in check, the Empire sent students under the pretext of 'dispatch' like this, making them resolve a certain number of the requests registered there. As a result, the commission offices had come to be affiliated with the academy and were placed in a position of being monitored to some extent by the Imperial Academy.
"...... If we stay like this, we might freeze to death. Let's hurry inside."
Everyone nodded at Charlotte's words. Even Mia Crowfield, who had been wearing a slightly drowsy expression, and Jake, who'd looked languid after the meal, had wide-awake looks on their faces now.
...... But were they really planning to carry out requests in this weather, in this darkness?
Did their eyesight reach the level of birds of prey or something?
...... After thinking about it for a moment, I reached the conclusion that their eyes really could be on the level of birds of prey, and despaired.
In a world where words like sword aura, meditation, and Sword Saint were tossed around casually, of course that would be the case.
I had the feeling that today I might end up turning back time dozens of times.
Grateful for the fact that the cobblestone road the carriages had to run on remained free of snow because of the ever-present hot steam pipes running beneath the ground, I quickly followed after the protagonist's party walking ahead of me.
*
"Aaaang!?"
Bang!
"Eek."
A muscular woman let out a truly furious yell straight out of a Japanese manga and slammed the reception desk, making Mia Crowfield yelp in fright.
"You're showing up at this hour to get work!?"
The woman, who looked absolutely furious, had several large scars from cuts on her arm, as if she'd been quite something in her youth. Dressed defiantly in tight short sleeves and openly displaying scars that looked as though she'd gotten them fighting a bear in a bloodbath, she honestly didn't seem like an ordinary attendant.
Twitch.
One of Alice's eyebrows moved slightly. It seemed she didn't appreciate the attitude of the person in front of her.
Still, she didn't say anything. There was a high probability that words had already been exchanged between this person and Jennifer.
"Er, but the door was open, so we thought...... Haven't you started your shift yet?"
Oh.
I knew that confident line of Leo's. In the original work, it was the line that came up when you chose the option, 'Don't be intimidated and answer properly.' Plus one additional point.
Though I had no idea whether those points meant anything here.
...... In the original, they had moved after sunrise, so it had just looked like she was being obstructive for no reason. Now it felt a little...... just a very little...... like a justified protest. Well, if this really was her shift, then getting angry wouldn't exactly be normal.
"Hmm?"
And the receptionist's reaction was exactly as I'd seen it. I knew it because I'd watched this scene several times while transcribing the dialogue options.
In the game, there had been only a few expression data sets, so her anger probably wouldn't have dissipated yet at this point, but the expression I saw on the receptionist's face now was more like, 'What have we here?' Her line was probably '.......'
"Sorry for the early hour. It's just...... We came knowing this was the working hours......"
Leo asked, a little cautiously.
"Well, you're not wrong."
The receptionist still looked annoyed, but she shrugged once and pointed at the right wall with her index finger.
"There's a ton of 'em over there. Pick something suitable. If you fail and give up, I'll give each of you a knuckle rap on the head, so brace yourselves and choose carefully. Something you can handle."
I glanced down at the receptionist's hand.
...... Her hand was so big it looked like my whole face would fit inside it if she spread it open.
Could a punch like that really be called a 'knuckle rap'?
Well, I wasn't worried, since with this bunch they'd never fail.
The venom had drained from the expression of the receptionist as she scratched at her wild, orange hair with her fingers. Then again, if even I had to get angry from the crack of dawn, my temper would cool off fast too.
Leaving behind the receptionist as she let out a huge yawn, we went up to the cork board that was large enough to cover the entire wall.
"...... That's a lot."
"Yeah."
Leo answered Claire's murmur.
In the game, only about three or four had popped up at a time, but the requests spread out before our eyes now were so numerous I couldn't count them at a glance.
Then again, with fifteen students added, there still had to be requests for the hired mercenaries to handle, so logically this many made sense.
"Hmm......"
"How about this one?"
While Claire was lost in thought, Charlotte tapped a request form with her finger.
[Request - Subjugation of the Elemental Bear "Red Claw."
Capture alive not required. Corpse will be handled upon contact.
Commission fee: 5 pounds. Additional remuneration intended if the carcass is intact. Other details have been conveyed to the receptionist.]
Five pounds per request was quite lucrative. If I forcibly converted it to Earth terms, it was a bit over 500,000 won. The developers had taken the value of the pound sterling from the 1900s, converted it into yen, and then established a formula of 1 pound = 10,000 yen to make it easier for players to calculate, so that was probably about right. Well, if the yen were to drop, the amount might end up being under 500,000 won.
If five people joined forces to handle it, that was one pound per person. Not a bad sum for living hand to mouth. Of course, things might change if they sold the carcass directly, but the people posting these requests weren't fools. Those who dealt with these things had their own connections, so if a hunter tried to sell directly, the carcass wouldn't sell unless they offered it at a far lower price.
Besides, the magical processing with Marmaros and various other things required quite a few acquaintances.
Everyone nodded at Charlotte's words. A bear might be impossible to hunt alone, but with this many people, it was worth a try.
Besides the one Charlotte had picked, we chose a few more requests. Including the Elemental Bear subjugation, there were four in total, and fortunately for me, they were all sub-quests I recognized.
"Huh? Elemental Bear?"
The receptionist, after looking at the request form, glanced at us before her gaze settled on Leo's hair. Then she looked at Claire's hair color beside him, and only then did she utter an "Ahh," as if catching on.
"You're the brats from House Grace, aren't you?"
It was a little irritating that she recognized the baron's kids first when the imperial princess was standing right there, but well, it had been like that in the original.
"Ah, yes, that's right."
"I see. If that's the case, I can trust you with this."
...... And then her gaze flicked once toward Alice, the imperial princess, and me, which suggested she hadn't failed to recognize us.
"Good. I'll give you the documents with the details."
The contents of requests often included details that would be a shame to have poached by others. So it was standard practice for the receptionist to hide the specifics and not disclose them unless the person was judged trustworthy.
"Thank you!"
After accepting the not-too-thick bundle of documents, Claire smiled brightly.
"We'll wrap this up quickly and be back!"
"Go on, then. Just don't get yourselves killed."
Maybe the sight of Claire's lively expression had put her in a better mood, because the attendant grinned as she spoke.